February 03, 2012

Dive Bar Show

I tend to avoid bar shows in the bars here that still allow smoking* but every now and then it's worth the smelly hair and clothes. Last weekend, my friend Craig was celebrating a birthday AND Chris's band (called False Madrid) was playing their second show ever. And both events were held in a beloved but somewhat dank bar in Polish Hill, Gooskis. I don't go to Gooskis that often anymore but they have delicious pierogies, very cheap beers, and attentive bartenders. Everyone I know who goes there jokes about how some clothes are "Gooskis" clothes. For me the main requirement for Gooskis clothes is that they have to be machine-washable and relatively inexpensive. The above fit the bill! Do you have divey bar clothes?

*In the state of PA, if you derive less than 20% of your tavern income from food sales, you are exempt from the ban. Citation here.

3 comments:

If I know beer might be spilled on me, I'll wear something that already needs to be washed and can be washed at home. No silks or wools. That said, I had no idea you can still smoke in Pittsburgh. I visited my cousin in Richmond two months ago and she took me to a bar and when I saw a single person in the middle of a crowded place light up, I thought he was plastered and going to get arrested. Nope, perfectly legal. It was shocking, though, how one smoker made my skin, hair, and clothes smell horribly. Even stranger is to think that most bars and coffee shops I went to in college were wayyy worse than that.

The last time I was in Pittsburgh I mistakenly wore a dry clean only silk shirt out to a smoky bar to see him DJ. By the time I remembered that smoking is still allowed in a lot of Pittsburgh bars, it was too late. And I'm kind of lazy... so my shirt is sitting in exile on a pile in my bedroom waiting for me to take it to the dry cleaner.